Sky Hunter
by Airal
Summary: AU. In a world where Skies are hunted down for their flames; a young Sky by the name Tsunayoshi takes his first journey outside his hidden home. Though he might regret his choice of leaving his sanctuary as he'll really know the world's Sky Hunters; The Arcobaleno, will surely not let him escape them.
1. Azural Berries

**Summary: **AU. In a world where Skies are hunted down for their flames; a young Sky by the name Tsunayoshi takes his first journey outside his hidden home. Though he might regret his choice of leaving his sanctuary as he'll really know the world's Sky Hunters; The Arcobaleno, will surely not let him escape them.

**A/N:** Ehehehe… I kinda had a rush of imagination last night. I did have an idea like this a few months back before I had even started to consider writing stories at all, but it was a lit lose on what would happen in that idea. So close to midnight yesterday I had a sudden rush out from the idea and ran up to start my computer and write a small start on it. :'D

And boy I really am starting to write stuff right now xD Though I still kinda have a little block for my other story "Parallel Switch", which btw I am a little confused how I'll fix it up with all the confusing stuff I wrote in that one :'D But I won't abandon it. Nope. I just need something else alongside it to write, I think. So this thingy came up

It's kinda weird but I hope it'll turn out good or meehehehe.

Actually trying to work on my grammar for this thing. If you see some grammar mistakes or anything other that looks just weird to you. Just shout at me :'D I need corrections.

I'm not sure there will be romance in this, since I'm not into the genre of romantic stuff anyways. More of adventure themed thingy with a lot of twists I guess. It's an alternative universe after all. xD

* * *

**-Sky Hunter-**

**Chapter 1 - Azural Berries**

A pair of eyes with a deep colour of sunset orange scanned the newly discovered valley. All from the large mountains to the east that reached the fluffy clouds that decorated the azure blue sky above to the large forest with huge green trees that mildly swung back and forth with their large branches and the small but lively village down at the very center of the normally peaceful valley right next to a small glimmering lake. To the south the smaller mountains that surrounded the valley created a gap which was most likely used for a passage out. And to and end at the west were about three to four rivers winding down as small serpents towards the lake and into the big forest. It was truly an extraordinary scene.

The eyes moved slowly across the beautiful scenery in front of them, careful to not miss any details in its beauty nor the small village. The owner of the sunset orange eyes gave a sigh in relief. It was not often he had time or the chance to explore outside from his home and now he was finally able to reach the outside.

Even though if he'd just stumbled across this small valley out of pure luck it was his very first time seeing a village aside from his own home since his father had been quite against the idea of him going outside the gates. But he needed this. He'd craved for exploring the world for so long, if not since he was little. But now he'd finally aged enough to convince his father of one small trip on his own outside the gates.

But to be honest, he was a little bit nervous too. He would be meeting "N_on-skies_" or "_normal_" people, or that's what scholar Talbot had said they were called by. The term "_Skies_" or "_Sky_" which was what they called themselves back at home and according to Talbot it was best to not try to give out oneself to be a Sky or anyhow related to one. It was far too dangerous to do so and it didn't seem to be a very good idea at all when thinking about how "_Sky __H__unters_" could get that information and start hunting him as well as the other Skies. It did give him small shivers hearing about Skies who had been hunted down by those awful Sky Hunters. Those were the main reason he'd never been allowed to go outside the gates.

A small breeze caught up with him. The brown gravity defying hair swayed gently and the fifteen-year-old took a deep breath while closing his orange eyes. A gentle nudge at his leg along with a small "Gao" made him open his eyes once again and look down at his companion.

"It's okay Natsu" The teen assured the little lion cub. "I'm just a little bit nervous after all."

"Gao" The lion cub replied happily. Glad to know its master was alright.

The Brunet closed his eyes again and took some steady breaths. He would not let anything like those stories about Sky Hunters scare him now though. As long he'd keep a low profile as a simple traveler and not use any flames or any attributes a Sky could do which apparently Non-skies couldn't, he'd be fine. So many promises he'd made to his father about not doing a bunch of stuff which he himself considered ridiculous even if he'd had the permission to do so was now swirling around in his head. Counting each and every one again while he started to murmur them and testing his voice to not cause any disturbance in the inner flow of flames which he'd needed to keep inside and be extra careful not to let it slip out.

Opening his eyes again, a pair of caramel brown eyes that showed a clear innocence had replaced the deep sunset orange ones and started to admire the scene in front along with a small smile on the teen's lips. The lion cub purred and disappeared in a flash of flames and settled within a ring attached to the brunet's finger. One last inhale of the fresh air and he looked down from his temporary 'enjoying the view' boulder and jumped down.

He would make sure to see the world as much as he could during this small trip. Like a sky spreading out over the land he would make sure to find all the wondrous things this outside world had to offer.

* * *

Hana eyed the village people with an annoyed look on her face. Everyone was running around with errands for the festival that was going to be held this weekend and in her opinion they kind of overdid their work this year just because some had heard of a famous Sky Hunter would visit the village. Why in the world a Sky Hunter would visit this normally quiet village was beyond her, but Sky Hunters were known to travel pretty much everywhere their feet took them since these _Skies_ were very rare to find these days. Ever since the news about eight different people had been able to take down one very powerful _Sky _each, it was rather annoying hearing the same stories all over again.

These eight people were called the _Arcobaleno_. Said to be the strongest of Sky Hunters out there. The Skiesthat these people had taken down had been ones that had apparently had powers to wipe out cities or something. Hana scoffed at that. Sure, Skieswas known to be able to cause destruction, but she didn't see the point of causing such a big deal out of defeating them. It was rare for a single Sky to even appear near cities. To Hana the Arcobaleno was like monkeys. They just hunted the Skies for glory. But somehow she had a feeling Skies were more than like monkeys themselves. Was it just because they could use a Sky flame that they were hunted? There were people with similar attributes to Skies but they had different colours to their flames. Even the Arcobaleno had flames, though not Sky flames, but still.

Hana strolled down the unusually busy main street filled with village people who ran back and forth between houses, some who was climbing up the roofs to put up even more decorations than necessary. All of them acting like monkeys in Hana's opinion.

"Hey Hana! Over here!"

Hana turned to the familiar voice, and sighed. Great, it was the airheaded baseball guy at the sushi restaurant who had called her. She let a small moment of pause to wipe away the annoyance from her thoughts and then she moved towards the young raved haired teen at the sushi restaurant.

"Hello Takeshi. Is there something I can help you with?" Hana struggled not to sound too irritated than she already was. She'd not live this down if she'd lose her composure by just talking friendly to the guy. He wasn't that much of a monkey as others usually would be.

"Oh sorry, did I disturb you?" The raved haired teen chuckled lightly while rubbing his head. "You seemed a little bit worried for a moment when you passed by."

Hana narrowed her eyes in irritation.

"No, I was just thinking of how irritating everyone is acting lately."

"Well. I suppose this rumor about the famous Sky Hunter is really getting to some people's heads" Takeshi chuckled. "It's fun though if this keeps up to future festivals. That was it might get even more fun with the other festivals as well."

Hana sighed. "I'd rather get this over with so we can return to the normal peace and quiet."

Takeshi gave a light laugh in reply. "So, I'm guessing you're helping out as well in the festival?"

"Something like that. I don't really mind helping but the ones running around like monkeys are starting to get to me."

"Hehe, I see. Hey if you don't mind. Would you like to help me with fetching some Azural berries in the Katana Forest?"

Hana stopped to think for a moment. It was a good excuse to get out of the lively village and get some sort of peace and quiet again while everyone was busy over here.

"I'm sure I can. I'll just need to get some supplies at home for collecting the berries." She answered Takeshi.

"No need. We got a few extra berry bags behind the shop." The raven haired teen happily chirped which got Hana to twitch an eyebrow at his overly positive side. Sometimes she just couldn't get over how happy he could be at times for no reason what so ever.

As Takeshi excused himself to go and fetch the berry bags Hana let her mind drift away again while leaning at the restaurant's window. Everyone was still running around like monkeys as usual from today and forth and Hana just wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.

If this famous Sky Hunter was one of the Arcobaleno, then it was a clear reason that a Sky had been sighted in the area. This made Hana frown in confusion. She hadn't seen or heard anything about a Sky in the area. Why would a Sky even be in Swords Valley at all? Was a Sky hiding away from the Sky Hunters over here or was it just a rumor that had been leaked out so a Sky Hunter had become interested enough to check the place out?

She was grabbed out of her thoughts as Takeshi had come back with the supplies of berry bags and other stuff needed to get across Katana forest with.

"Daydreaming again Hana?" Takeshi joked and gave the brunette a small wave with his hand.

"Hmph" Was the only reply he got from Hana as she grabbed one of the berry bags and started to walk out of the village without casting any glance of he followed her or not.

This just better be worth it.

* * *

The young Sky was all lost. The trees just looked the same wherever he went in this forest. At first he didn't mind since he took his time to take in the sights of the amazingly green forest. Even the trunks of the trees where green which he later discovered was moss covering the trunks all the way up to the tree's branches. Every bigger rock or boulder he managed to find was covered in this weird moss that was all over the place. At times he would glimpse an animal running a few ten meters from him and then quickly run away. But right now he really needed to get out of here. He had at least thought of trying to get to that village by nightfall. It wasn't a good plan to sleep outside in the wild on the very first day outside the gates.

"Come on Tsunayoshi. Just clear your mind and focus on where the sun is." He murmured to himself. He could always use his flames to fly up and see where he was but that would be a deathtrap and he knew it. Summoning Natsu would also be a risk now as well and Tsuna didn't feel like taking any of those risks just in case.

The brunet looked up and tried to pinpoint the sun but to no avail. The tree's leaves were not letting him get a glimpse of where the sun really was. Yet the whole area was shining in the sunlight reflected on all the green areas which made the whole forest quite bright in its green colour.

This was just his luck. Every time he'd try something new he just had to screw up on the first try.

A sudden sound made him freeze however. It was faint but he knew someone or something was heading this way.

Tsunayoshi's first thought was _Sky Hunters_ but immediately pushed the thought away. His father had taught him enough to not give in to the very first thought coming to mind. Instead he stayed completely still while ducking below an overgrown boulder near a tree with a big trunk. The hiding place was very good for a first try at it. The brunet started to breathe as silently as he could and didn't move a single muscle. Voices could be heard from far away if he focused on those sounds alone from the many bird chirping and the trees giving out small creaking sounds from the wind blowing through the crowns of the trees.

The voices got louder by every second and soon Tsuna could pinpoint their exact location from his hiding stop without looking towards them. There were two voices. One male with a cheery laughter who seemed to be highly amused talking to the other. The second voice belonged to a female which seemed rather annoyed in her tone at times but kept most of it out. Tsuna frowned at that but the other one didn't seem to mind it.

The pair went past the young Sky's hiding place without a single glance towards it as he got a small glimpse of their looks. One being a tall raven haired teenager, most likely in the same age as him and the other was a female with long brown hair swaying in the wind. Tsuna held in a gasp. They were surely village people. Non-Skies! It was a first timer for him to actually see someone like that outside the gates of his home.

The brunet curiously let his gaze follow them until they were out of sight but stood up and started to follow.

Somehow he just felt like following them might take him to the village. All he needed to do was following them from a distance. They didn't seem to notice his presence at all. Yet Tsuna felt a nervous lump in his throat.

He just hoped nothing bad would happen from following them.

* * *

Hana was close to just go back to the village soon to make Takeshi stop with his joking. Since they had walked without any basic subject to talk about in Takeshi's opinion he'd started to talk about baseball and other stuff he joked around about. It was starting to make her insane if he'd not stop it soon. She just wanted some peace and quiet from the village, and sure it was quieter but now she had to communicate with the new monkey at her side.

"You know, if you don't want to talk about baseball we can always change the subject"

Hana twitched. "You don't say?" The raven haired teen laughed at her comment which was filled with as much sarcasm she could muster at the moment.

"Well what do you think about this rumor about the Sky Hunter that is coming?"

Hana looked up, meeting a pair of more serious eyes than usual that Takeshi had. It was uncommon for him to be anything other than cheery but now he'd even surprised her with his 'serious mode' which only came up in the more serious moments.

"To be honest, I hope it's just a rumor." Hana admitted. "The village is better off without a Sky being hunted by a destructive Sky Hunter. It would surely cause a forest fire or something."

"I agree." Takeshi answered with a frown. "The valley is definitely not a battlefield. And even if that would be the case, I'm not sure many would like having neither a forest fire nor any large damages done to the valley at all. There are people who'd rather just live in peace than having a Sky Hunter making trouble it the village."

"Right"

"Besides…" Takeshi chuckled. "Have you ever thought of what the actual reason for hunting Skies is? I mean, is it just that it's considered a challenge for the strong ones or is there something else?"

"I don't know" Hana shrugged. "It just feels like trying to be a monkey to me."

Takeshi gave up a laugh. "True, true."

Then a snap from behind was heard. Takeshi turned around quickly and stood in front of Hana as he scanned the area. Hana seemed to stiffen at the sound made from behind as well. With whatever sense she could use she listened and looked around to find the cause of the sound. Takeshi seemed to frown even more as no other sound was heard. If it had been an animal it was sure to have run off by now.

But nothing was heard after it. So either it was a predator of some kind or someone was following them.

"Who's there!?" Takeshi exclaimed out to no one in particular.

The forest remained silent. But then some rustling was heard from some bushes about 10 meters away to the right of them. Both of the teen moved their attention to the bushes. A small rabbit jumped out as they had laid their eyes on its hiding place.

Hana and Takeshi relaxed. Even if the valley was peaceful it was unsure what could happen in Katana forest. Some had said that some animals where rather large and could attack at times, even if it was rare. It never hurt to be too careful.

Takeshi chuckled and scratched his head. "Well that was awkward."

"Still a little fun though." Hana said in an amused tone. "We got scared by a rabbit."

"No kidding."

The two teens laughed it off and continued to the Azural berries place where they started to collect the blue glowing delicacies used in many dishes at the village. A small stream gave the small opening in the forest a rather pretty scene.

Hana was at one of the Azural bushes that were placed near the stream. The bush she was picking the berries from was a bit larger than the others and had a lot of Azural berries which was in perfect condition to be picked.

But as she was picking the berries she had a feeling she was being watched. Way to close to her liking. She glanced over to Takeshi but he was at the far end of the opening and picked the berries with his back to her.

As she shrugged of the feeling and turned back she was met by a pair of caramel brown eyes and a fluff of brown hair.

She gave up a surprised shriek and jumped back. The person in front of her seemed to be just as surprised as her and jumped back as well out from the bush and landed in the stream with his back first. A high pitched shriek even louder than hers was heard from the person.

"HIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"


	2. The Traveler

**Summary:**AU. In a world where Skies are hunted down for their flames; a young Sky by the name Tsunayoshi takes his first journey outside his hidden home. Though he might regret his choice of leaving his sanctuary as he'll really know the world's Sky Hunters; The Arcobaleno, will surely not let him escape them.

**A/N: **So another chapter. :D Uhm… I tend to be quite fast in the beginning. Words are flowing like crazy when I type now. I can't just stop. 8I

While some of you have questions about the story, then you'll need to continue reading the story as it progresses. That way you'll surely find out sooner or later C: I'll try to explain things further ahead. I don't wanna spoil too much xD

Yell at me if you find serious grammar errors k? :'D I stink at grammar… Especially at night.

* * *

**-Sky Hunter-**

**Chapter 2 – The traveler**

Tsuna was definitely starting to regret his decision of following these Non-Skies. If he had known he'd end up for a bath he'd never even considered following them to their apparently walk for hunting berries. And to be caught up being in the same bush that girl had decided to get some berries from was not on his list of doing either.

The bush seemed good enough for a hiding spot at that moment. And when the girl had walked straight towards his hiding spot he had first thought she knew he was there. But as she just started to pick the small berries he discarded the idea. But when she frowned and turned around Tsuna found his chance of getting the heck out of there.

That was when she had moved back and they had met face to face.

She got surprised by him alright and gave a small shout out of finding him out. Tsuna had tried to move back in case she'd think he was a threat. Too close to someone he didn't know wasn't a very good plan at all. But as he tried jumping backwards he noticed he didn't have anything to land on.

This led to him having a cold bath out of nowhere which to his now panicking state and gave his normal high pitched shriek, definitely not according to plan.

As he plummeted down the stream of awfully cold water he started to flail his arms franticly, trying to get up as soon as he could and get out of here. Somehow it didn't really help him much, he was struggling against having his 'dame-ness' acting up for real but right now it had the perfect time to mess everything up for him.

He'd hoped he would have better control over his natural habit of messing everything up but that was mostly thanks to his flames being active. And the flames were out of the question to use as his consciousness was still highly alert that there where these "Normal" people of the land that was right next to him, probably plotting his death already.

As the stream was trying to almost drag him down he felt the lack of air he was getting. He just couldn't make himself get out of the water. The brunet was starting to feel heavier for each second he was struggling to get out but to no avail.

His flames were starting to increase inside of him. Frantic of helping out in the situation at hand but Tsuna knew he couldn't risk it now. It was way too soon for it. Way to close to being caught by two people who even talked about Sky Hunters earlier. Tsuna had even caught some words about a Sky Hunters that were coming to the valley of all things.

It took almost all of his strength to keep the flames in check. But now he didn't have any more strength to get out of the water at all. It was a stream yes. But somehow it was a lot deeper than he'd ever anticipated.

The young Sky tried one last flail to get to the surface before he felt his vision to blur. As he was about to give up his final chunk of air a pair of steady arms grabbed him by his wrist. Before he knew it he was out of the freezing cold water coughing like he'd never cough in his life. A few pats on his back got him to continue coughing up water that had made its way in his lungs.

"Are you alright?"

It was the male's voice. A hint of worry along with suspicion in the small sentence was what Tsuna could make out of it.

"Y-y-yea" The brunet managed to croak out between the wheezing coughs. "T-t-thanks…"

"What the heck were you doing spying on us?"

It was the female's voice this time, stern and accusing. Tsuna closed his eyes tight. This was not good. He was not supposed to make them angry that he'd followed them but just wait until they had gotten to the village and then introduced himself. Well, not completely introduce him to them but just enough for him to be a regular traveler.

"I-I d-didn't m-mean to s-spy… I w-was j-just g-going to ask f-for directions…" He stammered and cursed himself for not speaking properly. Was all training with Talbot for nothing? He felt just as shy as he used to be years back before the training began.

"Is that so? Then why didn't you just walk up to us and asked without hiding from us since that noise you made earlier? I have a feeling the first noise was not the rabbit after all."

Both of the Non-Skies were looking in distrust towards Tsuna as he was sitting completely soaked from the still freezing water.

"S-s-sorry… I-I am n-not g-g-good at approaching p-people I've n-never met…" That was not a lie at Tsuna's part. He had always been shy towards new people, but with Talbot's and his Father's training with the flames had made him more able to control his nervousness. A sneeze escaped from the young Sky and he started to shiver from the small bath he had a couple of minutes ago. He'd really wish he'd not have any problem with using the flames as for now. Then he'd be dry in an instant.

The Non-Skies shared a look with each other. A silent moment was made which felt like an eternity to the young Sky was nerve-wrecking.

"Well I don't think there would be a problem taking you to the village. But for your nearly spying on us will cost you to help collecting Azural berries. No exceptions." The female Non-Sky sighed after a while in thought.

"O-okay…."

"Hey, what's your name dude?" Tsuna alerted his attention to the raven-haired teen.

"T-t-tsunay-yoshi… I a-am a traveler."

"Really?" The male Non-Sky chuckled. "I'm Takeshi Yamamoto. I'm the son of Tsuyoshi who runs a Sushi restaurant over at the Village of Swords."

"I'm Hana, Hana Kurokawa. I'm working at the village's delivery service." Hana frowned. "You don't have a surname?"

"U-um…" Tsunayoshi felt another panic attack building up. He'd hoped to not needing to answer too many questions but since he'd really messed this one up he felt like he'd just rather give out the one he had prepared just in case this would happen, even if he didn't like using it.

"S-sawada…" He replied almost in a whisper.

"Well Tsunayoshi Sawada." The brunette clapped her hands together. "Aside from you being completely soaked still I think it might be better to return to the village now and worry about berry gathering later. You'll catch a cold otherwise."

"Yea. With your sneezing it does sound like you're about to catch one." Takeshi laughed.

"R-right." Tsuna felt himself smile in relief to get dry as soon as possible.

Dry clothes did sound very nice right now.

* * *

When they had arrived at the village Tsuna couldn't help but looking quite curious about all the Non-Skies who ran around like crazy putting up what he assumed to be decorations of some kind. In his own opinion he didn't get the decorations at all. It was just weird stuff these people seemed to insist was good enough to put up apparently.

"What are all those things for?" He asked curiously still scanning the busy streets which still put him in awe of all the people at one single place. He was sure there wasn't that many at home who'd run around at the same place at once. It tended to be quite peaceful around when no one of father's friends were at home.

"It's for the festival tomorrow." Hana huffed in annoyance. "Somehow the rumor of a Sky Hunter visiting got everyone overly excited and suddenly wanted to make the festival a big deal."

"You got to admit Hana. The village does need some living up." Takeshi chuckled amused. "Normally I find it rather boring when they're not this active normally."

Both of the village teens turned around to look at the sudden stop the _little spy of the forest_ had made when they mentioned the term "Sky Hunter". He looked pale and seemed to tremble a little.

Hana frowned. "Is there something wrong? You don't like Sky Hunters?"

The small brunet flinched and gave her a frightened look before trying to not to hyperventilate.

Takeshi went forward to the brunet and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Had a bad encounter with one? I've heard of some Sky Hunters being very brutal, even towards regular people."

Tsuna seemed to calm down a bit but was still shaking a little. "I… Yea, something close to that."

Takeshi and Hana exchanged glances. Wondering what this kid really had been through.

"You're a traveler right?" Hana tried changing the subject. "So where are you headed?"

Tsunayoshi seemed to snap out of his trembling state and looked at Hana in confusion. Then he realized he was asked a question and managed to stutter something about "_Don't really know"_ which made Hana frown even more than necessary.

"You don't know where you're heading?"

"I didn't have a plan of where to go exactly… I just wanted to travel the world a little." The brunet gave a hesitant smile.

"Sounds like fun! I'd love to go on a travel one day." Takeshi chirped happily. Hana could only growl in defeat of the raven-haired boy. It just had to be time to get on her nerves again. How airheaded could one get?

More were they not able to discuss as a lot of the village people started to move to a gathering at the market down the street. They seemed even more happy and chattered loudly with each other. Hana grabbed one to ask what the commotion was all about this time.

"The rumored Sky Hunter Is here!" The man that Hana had grabbed chirped. "He's down at the market right now! We can't just miss an opportunity like this go to waste."

Hana glanced back to Tsuna who had gone sickly pale this time. Takeshi gave him another gentle pat on his back. "It's alright, you don't need to go and see him." The teen assured the brunet.

The young sky shook his head and relaxed, opening his eyes with a bit of determination in them.

"No… I want to see him as well."

That took both Hana and Takeshi back a bit. The brunet had been pretty much panicking if not twice from just hearing about the Sky Hunter. Whatever the reason behind it was Hana had a feeling it was complicated and not a pretty story. But now he was determined to wanting to see the fearful Sky Hunter as well. Just like that.

"O-kay then…" Hana hesitantly replied with a small frown in wonder.

As all three of them walked down the street towards the market they heard a lot of cheers from the village people to a big guy in the middle of the market place standing and yelling loudly back in a manner which Hana classed as the _monkey king of monkeys__._

The man in the center of the market that was surrounded by people was surely a Sky Hunter. He was huge and muscular. He wore a big armored suit in silver and green. His hair was styled as a small mohawk and was brown in colour. His eyes were in a light brown hue as he mockingly looked at the smaller persons around him that cheered.

"I am the great Dendro Chilum! Strongest of Sky Hunters and the next to be part of the Arcobaleno! I am the Top Lancer and every puny creature called by the name Sky will be slaughtered by my lance of lightning!" The Sky Hunter roared in victory while more cheers were heard.

Hana huffed in a strong annoyance at the yelling king of monkeys. He was so full of himself which made her almost angry. Takeshi didn't seem amused either. His usual smile wasn't there.

Tsunayoshi was looking at the man in a strange emotionless gaze. Hana thought for just a millisecond that she saw a flicker of orange in his eyes.

The Sky Hunter in armor started to yell by full force again.

"I came to this village of yours to make sure your puny village is in good hands! Guarded from the rampaging creatures of the Skies! They think they are free to roam our land and cause destruction which they are deadly wrong! No Sky is allowed to roam these lands of peace and I, Sky Hunter Dendro, the Top Lancer will make sure they never dare to rise up towards anyone!"

The Sky gazing at the Sky Hunter clenched his fists in frustration. This was a Sky Hunter? Only thing that was intimidating was his awfully loud voice but even that was a bad impression. He just felt insulted. This was a Sky Hunter which his father had warned him about? A yelling man in armor who brags about his power? Tsuna could feel the urge of wanting to teach this guy a lesson but he knew he had to control his anger towards this guy. Under no circumstances was he allowed to be the one starting a fight, even if the foe was the one calling out to fight him.

And about a Sky not allowed to travel in this land? Why would they have anything about that? The young Sky knew some Skies had indeed caused trouble. But he didn't feel there was a reason to attack Skies for the sake of them just travelling. That was just unfair.

"Hey soaked brat over there! What's with your look in distaste!?"

Tsuna came back at the moment those words were heard from his thoughts, giving the man in armor a look of disinterest.

"What's is it to you?"

Hana and Takeshi were silent. As well as the other village people around. Everyone's eyes where towards the small kid and the Sky Hunter.

Dendro didn't like brats who seemed to think he was someone who bragged. He was strong enough to just smash this kid to pieces if he wanted to. And right now he felt an urge to teach the brat a lesson.

"Brat, I am a Sky Hunter. I've killed many Skies in my days. The Top Lancer will not have his honor looked down upon by you."

"Sorry, but I just find it uninteresting."

Several gasps were heard around and many backed away in fear of a fight starting.

"Very well then. I'll teach you a harsh lesson in respecting your elders and Sky Hunters then."

Hana and Takeshi were going in to argue against the violence but the small brunet put up a hand to stop them.

"It'll be alright. I can take him." Tsuna smiled.

Hana just stared. _"I can take him!?"_ was he out of his mind? The cold must have had an awful effect from not being treated yet and now the kid had a death wish.

Tsunayoshi turned around to face Dendro with a small smile. "First to break anything in the town loses."

The Sky Hunter fumed. This brat was really mocking him! He will not be mocked by this brat! He'll crush him! Break every bone in this kid's body until he'd beg for mercy.

"Only thing I'll break is you!"

* * *

Tsuna was well aware what he did was a **very** bad plan. He would be found out in no time of being a sky. So far he hadn't needed to activate his flames as he kept dodging the blows of the Hunter. Dendro was definitely slow but his punches were not to be underestimated, so Tsuna played it safe with dodging hoping Dendro would at least try to damage something small but still enough to be considered a victory for the brunet.

The village people had given them more room to roam around trying to get a hit on each other. So far Dendro had indeed done some damage to the ground. But it wasn't covered in stone plates which didn't count if Tsuna had to be fair.

As Tsuna dodged one more punch by ducking low he gave out a small kick to the Hunter's face. Dendro retreated in clumsily and tried to register what had just happened.

Tsuna lowered his foot and stood up. Not once leaving his gaze from _Dendro the dumb_ as he'd felt like calling him. The Sky Hunter was now seething and took his lance which was strapped on his back. The entire group of people close by him quickly retreated to a safer spot as the lance started to give out sparks of electricity.

This was bad. The brunet knew the Hunter would gladly take out a weapon sooner or later but his instincts told him this was a far too powerful weapon to use in the middle of a town. Instead he started to run towards the forest to keep this guy from harming any innocent people around him since he didn't seem to really care for them at all.

As Tsuna could hear Dendro roaring behind him along with smashing everything in his path, luckily the village people took cover from him in time, he tried to focus on getting to a wide enough area to fight him head on.

The young Sky ran out of the village over the small plains and into the forest with the Sky Hunter high on his heels. As they were far enough inside to not be sighted by the people he turned around and activated his flames at full blast. A ring on his finger started to glow and a pair of red gloves with an X marked on the back of the hand. The fingertips were coloured in a white metal-like colour. Flames decorated the sides of the gloves' red metallic surface and gleamed in the sunlight. The ring that had glowed was now formed with an X on it and at the tip it was a head of a lion roaring. A chain was attached to it making it connected to a second ring. A belt with an X as its buckle appeared as well with a chain that connected to a leg bangle.

On the brunet's forehead was a pure deep orange flame burning bright with power and a pair of sunset orange eyes was gazing at the Hunter in a calm state.

The Sky Hunter had stopped in his tracks and stared at the scene in front of him.

"Y-you…"

"I am a Sky." Tsuna finished for him. "And I did take a little offence in your wording earlier."

"You wretched brat! Sky or not you are to become another prize of mine." Dendro snarled. "You all are to be extinct!" The hunter raised his lance which was sending out sparks of electricity of high voltage. "I'm glad this will be your final pitiful fight Sky. You'll at least have the honor of being defeated by me! The Top Lancer!"

"Doubt it."

"Why you…!"

In a flash Tsuna let his flames blast him forward towards Dendro at full speed and aimed a powerful punch at the center of the armor.

Dendro didn't have the time to block of dodge and was sent straight into a bit tree trunk, his unconscious body falling down with his head first to the ground.

Tsuna walked over and picked up the lance. He let his flames melt it to a small glue of melt metal and then gazed down with a look of his opponent and sighed. He just didn't like the fact he'd snapped at this guy. It went against what he was trained for. Patience.

Tsuna went over and checked the man's pulse. It was there and nothing else seemed to have damaged him more than a slight concussion. Nothing serious, that was a good sight.

One more thing that hit him was the village. There was no way he could go back there now though now thanks to his flames and dried him completely in a matter of seconds he had no reason to go back there anyways.

The brunet sighed and started to walk in the opposite direction of the village.

He just had to mess up everything on the very first day didn't he?

* * *

A green haired scientist jumped out of his chair as a reading of sky flames emitted from the Village of Swords appeared on the screen. The reading was high but only for a small moment.

"I better tell the others about this…"


	3. Erased memories

**Summary:**AU. In a world where Skies are hunted down for their flames; a young Sky by the name Tsunayoshi takes his first journey outside his hidden home. Though he might regret his choice of leaving his sanctuary as he'll really know the world's Sky Hunters; The Arcobaleno, will surely not let him escape them.

**A/N:**Yey, another chapter written :D Hopefully I'll get around continuing to Parallel Switch soon. I'm almost over the writing block for it. I just wish this keyboard could stop with its shenanigans of not messing up every single word I type xD Sometimes it just doesn't respond which forces me to rewrite whole sentences. Especially now when I'm typing this Author's note. ARGH.

Anyways. Hope you enjoy this chapter. It'll take some time to get the story moving. I have some ideas for it but it'll take a while to build it up :D

* * *

**-Sky Hunter-**

**Chapter 3 – Erased memories**

Lal Mirch was not happy with this incident at all.

Verde had contacted her along with Colonnello with a diagnosis of sky flames had been spotted on one of his machine toys near the Village of Swords. And by hearing this Lal felt something must have been off. Had Skies ever put their feet in a territory like that before? The Village of Swords were far away from were Skies had shown up before but it did make sense somehow. It had been quite a while since a Sky flame of that intensity, as Verde explained it, had shown up.

Memories from those battles still gave Lal an uneasy feeling, even if she was one of the Arcobalenos. Sure she had herself taken down a rather strong Sky which made her one of the eight strongest, but it wasn't a very fond memory. It had been a horrible experience overall with the overwhelming power that Sky held in destructive force.

Right now the blue-haired Arcobaleno was talking to the village people which didn't give out any common knowledge at all. None seemed to have seen a Sky or anything related to it at all which got her more and more frustrated and added a mental note of punishing Verde harshly for the quick but wasted journey to the Village of Swords. Every person that they asked had nothing to give out on the matter.

Lal took in a few deep breaths in an attempt of calming her frustration over everyone around her. The civilians tended to want to ask completely unrelated questions instead of answering the questions she'd given them herself.

When about twenty or more people, since Lal didn't care to count them all, had asked her for her autograph or asked to tell how she'd defeated the ruffian of a Sky which was strong enough to classify her as one of the strongest eight, the Arcobaleno, Lal felt like bursting into madness and seriously just shoot the people around her.

Luckily someone less annoying than the whole town of excited villages managed to get her out of there before anyone got hurt.

The one in question to save her from breaking anything and anyone around her was her former student and now fellow Arcobaleno Colonnello in his weak attempts of flirting with her whenever he got the chance to. Ranked high in annoyance and idiots but still less painful than to be attacked by creepy villages who thought being an Arcobaleno made you tolerate them in more than five minutes.

"Got anything worth of notice from the villages?" She hissed under her breath to the blonde beside her who had taken her to the outskirts of the village, far away from anyone curious enough to follow without being spotted long before being able to hide and eavesdrop to their conversation.

The blonde shook his head in thought. "Nothing major I'm afraid. It's like nothing like that happened here at all. But what I did find out was that they had talked about some rumors whether a B or C class Sky Hunter would arrive to town but never showed up."

Lal deepened her frown. "Has anyone in the town seen that Sky Hunter at all?"

Another shook from the blonde confirmed the question negative. "No one from the village has seen any Sky Hunter arriving."

"Then we better check out the surrounding area where the sky flames where emitted according to Verde's readings." Lal concluded. "It might have been completely outside the village to have seen anything of it. But it still doesn't explain why the readings were so high… At least some of them must have seen something."

"Yea… That's true. Then let's check it out now while we don't have too many villages snooping around too much."

Lal have a nod in acknowledgement and they headed into the Katana forest that filled most of the valley.

The forest was quiet. Only the winds gripping the branches over their head gave out a whizzing sound while they headed further in.

A sudden groan made the two Arcobaleno's ear perk. Not far into the forest was an opening where the groan seemed to emit in small attempts of being heard. As Lal Mirch and Colonnello arrived in the opening with their caution on a high level if it was a trap their eyes was greeted with a huge man in silver armor lying down near a big tree trunk and seemed to try to come to his senses.

Colonnello ran forward to the man and kneeled down checking if the half unconscious man had any bigger injuries while Lal took the more slow approach looking around the area for clues of what had happened.

The small opening of the forest was just as green as any other part of the forest. The only hint of a battle was the big trunk which had a few cracks and some torn moss as the man had been hit into it. Hard.

The rest had no other clues of what had exactly made him hit the trunk in such a powerful blow if not the Sky Hunter had rammed into it by accident or, to Lal's amusement, on purpose.

The Sky Hunter slurred a few words to Colonnello as he tried to wake up from his unconsciousness. The blonde Arcobaleno had a deep frown which put Lal on guard. Something must have happened and it did seem like he'd been attacked no less. Lal could now see that the armor was cracked at the chest by something not bigger than a hand or a bulky spear could have done. The armor did seem to be able to take some large hits yet it had cracked by something, something very powerful.

Maybe Verde's readings were quite accurate after all.

* * *

As the Sky Hunter found in the forest was waking up at the building that was closest to a hospital in the Village of Swords Lal and Colonnello began to question him about what had happened.

The Sky Hunter was silent for a moment in thought but grunted that he didn't remember anything else than he was on his way to the Village of Swords since he'd heard of a festival here and he'd do some examination on the area for someone who paid him to search for some weird ancient mirror.

His memories went forward to the pass into the valley he'd taken but after that he couldn't recall anything happening or who had attacked him which he seemed rather angry about, muttering some curses under his breath about some very powerful bandits might had jumped on him. Either way he thought he was grunting about revenge on whoever dared to catch him off guard. Something about hurting his pride of being a Sky Hunter which made Lal just huff in irritation and left the guy in question.

"So…" The blonde Arcobaleno started, scratching the back of his head in confusion. "Either there were bandits jumping on him or he was attacked by a Sky which seems rather odd. Skies doesn't really 'jump on' people, hitting them once and runs away, though I can understand if they had attacked a Sky Hunter and finished the job. But this… is just confusing…"

"It's odd yes." Lal crossed her arms and leaned to the wall in the hall outside the room of the patient. "But I do have another theory."

"Hmm?"

"You know some Sky Hunters collect the flames of Skies right? And by doing so they can use them for a while before the core of the flames fade out as a mean of power source to some weapons made to use Sky flames."

"Yea. But what…"

"Meaning there might be a third theory in this. That another Sky Hunter attacked this one."

"But… Why?" Colonnello asked in confusion. "What would be the point?"

"I'm not sure." Lal hissed. "It's just a theory idiot!"

Colonnello gave up a laugh. "Right, right. Whatever you say Lal~" He winked.

A fist made its way to bang his head down the floor afterwards.

* * *

Hana felt confused. Something was definitely missing in her mind and she just couldn't figure out what the heck it was.

"Am I forgetting something?" She pondered, looking curiously at the arrival of the famous Arcobaleno. Did it mean the famous Sky Hunter who would arrive was instead two of those Arcobaleno people? No… It didn't feel right. Someone else was supposed to come. Or had he already been here? Wait. He?

Hana gripped one of her locks of hair and started to roll it between her fingers. It was frustration no less and nothing seemed to make sense. What was she missing?

"Hey Hana, you okay?"

Hana turned and meet the unusually serious eyes of the irritating raven-haired teen.

"I'm fine." She huffed and turned away. "I was just thinking of something that bugged me."

"Oh really?" Takeshi raised his eyebrows in realization. "I was kind of thinking like that as well."

Hana gave the guy beside her a stare in confusion. "You too?"

"Well..." Takeshi leaned to the side and stared towards the forest. "Something is nagging me about all this commotion. Wasn't something else happening? I mean… It feels like I've forgotten something."

"You're not alone at that."

"Haha really?" The teen grinned which made Hana twitch an eye to him.

"It feels like there was supposed to be someone with us."

"Yea, some small guy right?"

"So it was a guy?"

"No idea. Just felt like so." Takeshi frowned and stared down on the pavement.

They both took a notice to the Arcobaleno that seemed to question the other people around town about something. As they tried to eavesdrop on the questions and filtered out the stupid worshipping ones towards the famous Sky Hunters they caught up with that they were questioning if something odd had happened or if a Sky had been spotted.

The brunette frowned. Why would a Sky be in the Village of Swords? They were known to be at the Maze Mountains which was rumored to be their great hiding place when not roaming the lands and causing destruction or attempting to hide someplace else from the Sky Hunters.

A lot didn't seem to make much sense at all today.

"Oh Hana…"

Hana let her attention fall on the teen. He seemed to have remembered something at least that was what Hana could make out from his expression. "Yes?"

"Did we really pick any Azural berries today?"

Hana's eyes widened. No. For some reason they had returned before even picking some. Had this something to do with the feeling of forgetting something else?

"No we didn't."

Takeshi gave a cheeky grin in amusement. "Then we better go and get some now. It might help us remember something of what happened. At least, it feels like it will."

Hana could only nod in agreement.

* * *

Tsunayoshi gave out a large sigh in relief.

He really owed Talbot a big favor for lending him the forget-me-charm. It was most surely to erase whatever memory involving him. He could guess the memory of the Sky Hunter would be a side effect from it but it was still better than to leave without using it. It would give him enough time to get out of there before anyone noticed the Sky Hunter in the forest and then they just might assume he was attacked by bandits.

The brunet's shoulders slumped in regret though. He knew what he'd done was as stupid as he could have act and he was sure to get a scolding for it if Talbot ever found out. But he felt like he'd needed a scolding for this anyways.

He didn't like the fact that the two Non-Skies that had been rather nice to him and actually seemed worried for his wellbeing when he'd almost had those panic attacks had to forget him as well. And it would surely be trickier to let their memories stay hidden for far too long without them realizing something is off with their memories.

Tsuna shook his head and sat down by the small stream at the Azural berries' place where he'd first met the two teens face to face. He splashed some water up in his face to clear his mind. He needed to head on. He couldn't stay here. It was far too dangerous now.

As he got up he glanced over the small field of Azural bushes and sighed. Well his first day didn't seem to be the best one. But he'd make sure to not make the same mistake again.

He couldn't afford to. Not now when he finally got the chance of going outside the big gates which had sealed him inside his home for his whole life. Sure it was a nice home, and Tsuna knew he'd love to go back to it. But he just wanted to find out what was beyond them. And to his awe there was a big world, with a big sky. It felt so full of life and he'd never felt so in peace before.

Though the danger did make it rather nervous to stroll around in it, he did not regret his choice of convincing his father to let him take this journey.

He gave the scenery around him one last gaze and started to head towards the big opening in the valley that led out. He'd managed to pin point it from the village and now he'd made sure to keep track where he was heading. No more running around like an idiot lost in the woods.

After an half an hour of walking he reached the road leading out from the valley. Tsuna felt that even if the forget-me-charm was working he'd better be careful with who is seeing him so he put his hood up over his fluffy hair to give any followers more of a hard time breaking any memory-spell anytime soon.

Getting out from the valley of Swords, as he'd heard from Hana and Takeshi that they called it he gasped in awe as another giant landscape was shown before him.

A huge plain of fields with grass as long as his eyes could see. A few forests decorated the plains at parts but were far from overtaking the landscape. A mountain range stretched its way from the valley to the east and headed south towards the horizon.

This world was greeting him quite nicely with its huge landscapes as Tsuna thought back at the gardens at home which sadly weren't as big as this.

As Tsuna began to scan the area slowly he saw that the road twisted and turned around a few lakes and down one of the rivers there seemed to be a town near the horizon. The young Sky would guess it would take him about half a day to walk but he didn't mind. The scenery did make it worthwhile.

He took one step forward, feeling the wind catch up to him and gave a huge smile.

This world outside was truly worth risking being caught by just admiring its beauty.

* * *

Hana and Takeshi had gathered their bags once again and headed off towards the Azural berries place or the 'Growing of Azural' as most of the older villages called it. It had always had plenty of the glowing azure blue berries for centuries and was highly known and used within the Village of Swords.

When arriving they felt a shill, both of them well aware that something must have happened right here but they kept silent and started to pick the berries. They could only hope they'd figure it out by picking the berries for now.

As Takeshi moved closer and closer to the bushes near the stream he felt a familiarity to it from this day. Yes, he had definitely been here already today and he had observed the pouring from the stream. But something was missing. That something was supposed to be in the water.

Takeshi halted in his thoughts.

The stream…

Without hesitation he got up and went to the stream and looked thoughtfully at it. Hana gave him a glance as for saying 'I won't interfere until you remember something' or 'I won't disturb you right now in remembering something' which got the young teen to focus more in remembering whatever he had forgotten.

The stream didn't look unusual to its usual state but something was still knocking in the back of his mind to remember something about it.

Takeshi leaned closer to the surface. The water poured innocently by and he caught a glimpse of his own reflection. But that was it. He couldn't make out anything else from it.

He moved his hand to touch the water instead. Slowly and carefully and reached down under the surface.

The water was freezing cold but he kept it down under the surface anyways. He was close to now. Just a little bit more.

…

Nothing.

Takeshi resisted the urge of sighing in defeat. The feeling he had was gone. His shoulders slumped and he relaxed as he started to remove his hand out of the water.

That was when he felt something nipping at his fingertips. As a reflex he quickly retracted his hand away from the stream. He didn't expect a big splash coming right after knocking him backwards.

"TAKESHI!"

The brunette had run forward to him but the raven-haired teen didn't take his eyes off the creature in front of him.

As Hana had approached she stopped and stared along with Takeshi, unable to believe her eyes at their new company.

It was a small swallow. Coated in what Takeshi believed would be rain flames as his old man had described from his travels as a swordsman once long ago. The flames had a beautiful blue coating with a sense of waves into it. Even if they were a flame it danced around in an almost liquid form of movement rather than the normal nature of a flickering flame.

The small bird flew around in circles chirping loudly while the flames coating it made small raindrops fall down.

It seemed Hana was out of words so Takeshi gave a try while trying to not sound too intimidating to the swallow.

"Hey there birdie…?"

The blue swallow gave a small chirp in acknowledgement and started to descend down and landed on the teen's knee while it let its blue flames subside to the tip of its small wings and the tip of its feathered tail. Its eyes focused on the teen.

Hana seemed to do nothing more than open her mouth and then shut it over and over again. After a good long minute she managed to whisper.

"Is… Is that a flame animal?"

Takeshi gave the swallow a good study as it patiently sat on his knee studying him back. Flame animals were rare among the wild as they were often used as partners alongside with Sky Hunters when battling against Skies in general. The flame animals' abilities ranged all from supporting the Hunter to being a powerhouse of attacking the Skies.

What made them easy to recognize was their element of flames covering some part of its body and this swallow was no mistaking. It was surely a rain-class flame animal.

The swallow gave another chirp. It sounded happy for some reason. Takeshi didn't know why but he felt at ease by it. It was friendly that was certain. And it seemed to have taken an interest to him as well.

"I think it is." Takeshi said in finality to Hana. "And it seems friendly as well." He slowly let his finger move towards the bird which it happily jumped over to. It chirped happily.

"Wonder if I can keep him."

"Are you nuts!?" Hana exclaimed. "It just jumped out of nowhere. Who knows it might belong to a Sky Hunter nearby!"

The small rain swallow furrowed its feathers and gave small sharp noises as to prove the brunette wrong. Takeshi gave an amused laugh. "I don't think he agrees with you."

Hana became silent and relaxed her shoulders in defeat. The small bird chirped in triumph and jumped up on Takeshi's head making it comfortable for itself to rest there.

"You need a name right?" Takeshi asked the swallow. It chirped again as if saying 'yes'.

"How about…" Takeshi pondered. "…Kojirou?"

The rain animal pecked him gently and chirped.

"Alright. Kojirou it is!" Takeshi chirped back.

Hana sighed in amusement. She certainly did not expect the two of them to run into a flame animal by going back for berries and… Right, remembering something. She found it hard to believe the bird was the thing that they had forgotten.

"Turn slowly around. And don't make any stupid moves." A rash and threatening voice called out behind them.

The teens along with the bird tensed. Slowly letting them make a turn around and met eye to eye with a blue-haired woman with a scar on her right cheek. Her attire was inspired to be of a commander and a gun was attached to her arm pointing right at them. A blonde soldier stood beside her in green attire. Both of them gave the teens suspicious looks.

It was the two Arcobaleno from before.


	4. Unwanted by the norm

**Summary; AU**. In a world where Skies are hunted down for their flames; a young Sky by the name Tsunayoshi takes his first journey outside his hidden home. Though he might regret his choice of leaving his sanctuary as he'll really know the world's Sky Hunters; The Arcobaleno, will surely not let him escape them.

**A/N:** Aflgiofhjdsiolknfsdloifj. And another one up. Phew. I gotta say these fanfiction writing do sometimes make myself drag my hair in frustration of trying to 'tell the story' better. But I have to admit, it feels a lot easier to write stuff as for the moment : And this chapter is slightly longer than the others. :D Lot of stuff happening *cough*

Went back and rewrote parts of the first section about 5-7 times before settling with this as a starting point about the reason the Skies were hunted x'D Though I'll say the story about the Skies will be more complex once I get into the more deepening parts~

Just need to curse that homework over summer thing that haunts me. *shivers*

Anyways. Hope you guys enjoy this next chapter :D Would be awesome to know what you think of this story in a review :D Though it's not a must, just curious~

Mwahahahaha. *explodes*

* * *

**-Sky Hunter-**

**Chapter 4 – Unwanted by the norm**

_In a large room where the sunlight shone into by the big windows decorating the end of it a blonde man with deep sky blue eyes stood near the window and looked out over the gardens outside the mansion. A calculating gaze and a small frown were seen on his face as he watched the outside in thought. His attire was of black in colour. _

_A magnificent cloak was resting on his shoulders, held on its place with a pair of chains connected at the front. At the end of the cape orange flames were flickering silently without leaving a single burn mark on the floor. Underneath the cloak a black suit was shown with white stripes, a black tie and a white undershirt. At the other end of the room behind a pair of large doors a small visitor peeked in before running forward to the man at the window. As the man noticed the visitor's presence he smiled. _

_The visitor stumbled in and went to the man by the windows. The man took the small visitor's hand and led them both to a couch that was placed by the big windows. The boy sat down in the man's lap as they rested on the couch._

"_Papa, why can't we go outside the gates?" The visitor which was a tiny boy with caramel brown eyes and similar gravity defying hair hence it was brown instead asked the golden blonde man with a voice filled with curiosity. The man let his sky blue gaze meet the curious eyes of the five-year-old. A look of sorrow and concern flickered in his eyes as he crouched down to the brunet's level. His gloved hand with the inscription of a Romanian number decorating it was put on the boys head and gently ruffled the fluffy hair._

_The blonde seemed conflicted to tell him but after a minute of silence he signed in defeat. "Tsuna, it's a little bit too complex of a story for you to handle at your age."_

"_Why?" The boy's look turned puzzled and he leaned his head to the side in confusion. "I want to know the reason."_

_The man gave a small huff and gazed again to the little boy. "It's a long story Tsuna."_

"_I want to hear it!"_

"_Very well then, but only the brief version alright?" The blonde sighed and took a deep breath to prepare the story. The brunet perked his ears in delight from hearing the approval of telling a story and nodded his head._

"_A long time ago, before you were born, we Skies lived by the other people in the main land. Back then there was no special difference between us and other flame users as the Sky flame was considered to just be a rarer variant of the other six flame elements that existed. I did also live there along with my friends. It was a very peaceful time and we had pretty much nothing to worry ourselves about. But as peaceful it was there was a Sky with dark desires of taking over the main land. He misused his sky flames for taking over town after down with a destructive force he controlled."_

_The blonde paused looking down on the boy who listened intensely. The boy nodded with showing he understood the story thus far. He seemed quite serious for being in such a young age, accepting the information given to him as good as he could. The man letting the boy rest on his lap nodded back to and continued._

"_And through this Sky's tyranny I tried along with my some acquaintances of mine to make him understand his mistakes. Although he refused to listen, we tried over and over to make him stop with his actions. It all finally ended with him being slayed by what would come to be the very first Sky Hunter, the first of the Arcobaleno, who are said to be the strongest of the Sky Hunters, though that Sky Hunter retired straight after defeating the Sky who had caused so much grief to both Skies and Non-Skies._

_When the first Arcobaleno's action had stopped the tyranny of this Sky, I and many more Skies felt conflicted by the act. It was necessary but it did struck fear into many Skies when the news arrived to them. As well as fear struck us many Non-Skies started to fear the ones of the Sky flame greatly and thus other Skies became hunted._

_The Arcobaleno grew more in number as the Skies of the Romanian numbers were defeated one by one. Other Skies were hunted down as well by more Sky Hunters who showed up. We decreased rapidly in numbers as they hunted us down more and more frequently and as a final decision we decided it was best to move away from their world. Thus we are capsuled inside the gates, trying to live peacefully without them hunting us down."_

_The man stopped and closed his eyes, trying to bite back the bitterness as he had shown by the story. The small child was silent. He looked down with confused eyes. He tensed when the man continued the story._

"_At first Sky Hunters only headed after Skies that would harm others without reason, just as the first Arcobaleno had done when taken on the task to slay the Sky who had started the conflict but as soon they figured out a way to steal away our very cores of flames deep within us. Using it as a fuel to their weapons and becoming stronger as they progressed to wipe us all out. Innocent or not."_

_The brunet looked up with tearful eyes. "W-w-why…?" He stuttered and was trembling slightly. A pat reassured the brunet that it was all alright._

"_I believe that's enough for tonight." The blonde soothed the boy with a gentle tone. "One day you'll get the full story as I can only give you the brief reason why we can't live down there now."_

_A small hiccup came from the child in the father's arms. "A-Alright... papa."_

"_Don't you worry too much about this Tsuna. You'll be able to understand it more when you're older. One day we might get to live as we used to in the main land. But until that peace is reassured, I won't let anyone hurt you or our family. That's why we need to hide from them for now. Inside the gates, where we are safe."_

_The boy let his small hands dive into his father's chest, dragging him closer for comfort. The blonde let the boy lay there for a few minutes before the boy fell into a deep sleep on his lap._

_He stood up and gazed towards the window again, holding the small boy in his protective arms._

_A pair of sunset orange eyes shone back towards the light._

"_I'll not let the tragedy befall us again…"_

* * *

Tsuna slowly opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the morning sun that cast its light rays through the window at his left. Collecting his thoughts of where he was now again. He was lying in a small bed in a very empty room. The room wasn't big either but it was clean of dust and somehow gave a welcoming gesture for his awakening to the bright orb in the sky lifting over the horizon.

As the brunet lifted himself up from the bed he recalled his arrival to the town he had spotted yesterday from leaving the Village of Swords. He was now in 'Rayfield' which was the name of the town he'd learned by asking some of the townspeople a little bit timidly. He'd quite quickly found a nice inn to stay in for the night. Small but very nice he'd admit. It didn't cost him a fortune at least from the amount of money he'd gotten from Talbot to be able to get food and shelter for his journey.

Stretching his arms and legs he got up and left through the door. He left the payment to the owners of the inn and gave them a quick goodbye and thanks for staying the night. The owners seemed a bit confused for the thanking which got the brunet a bit cautious. Maybe he said it wrong? But as they gave him a pair of smiles he relaxed and waved happily back and exited the inn.

"Guess people here aren't used to getting a thank you." He murmured under his breath in confusion. It was a polite act to do so wasn't it?

The young Sky strolled through the town as he took in the interesting people around here. It was not as many friendly waves around everyone but it did seem like it lived a bit more people here than the Village of Swords. Tsuna assumed that it wasn't as lively here for the moment. The village behind did prepare for some festival after all. Tsuna managed to find a market where he bought a few supplies of food just in case it would take him longer to the next town. Next thing he knew he was walking down the road out of town to continue his journey.

Once out of the town he walked alone down the main road. He took in the scenery laid before him in amusement. Somehow he felt freer than ever before. Not that his home was a prison. But it was rather nice to get out for once.

"LOOK OUT TOO THE EXTREEEEEEEEEMEEEE!"

Tsuna only managed to turn his head towards the 'extreme' yell as he god a good pounce from something big, a shriek of surprise escaping him. The next thing he knew he was lying on his back and stared up into a pair of yellow glowing eyes. An animal he had never seen before was sitting on top of him and looked curiously back into his own. It was a little bit bigger than the brunet in size, brown in colour with deep glowing yellow eyes, big ears and a pair of powerful legs that was enough to keep him down without much trouble. It seemed to have scars here and there over its body and a long tail wagged back and forth in excitement.

What got Tsuna's full attention though were its ears. A yellow flame flared in each of them. The young Sky's eyes widen. It was without a doubt a Sun flame animal.

"ARE YOU EXTREMELY ALRIGHT!?" Someone shouted right next to him in an incredible loud voice which made the young Sky flinch and jerk back. But with the creature sitting on him it didn't do more than making him hit the back of his head hard on the ground. A wince came straight after and Tsuna felt himself getting a few black spots in his vision.

He felt the creature jumping off him but felt a shooting flame appear near his head. He recalled the flame as a Sun flame as it started to clear his mind from the pain.

When his vision cleared completely he got up from his lying position to a sitting one. Moving his attention to the guy that he assumed was the one yelling from a few moments ago. The one who had yelled looked like an older teenager with white short and spiky hair, a white plaster was patched over the bridge of his nose. His grey eyes looked in worry at the young Sky.

"I'M EXTREMELY SORRY ABOUT KANGARYUU JUMPING ON YOU. WE WERE JUST EXTREMELY TRAINING WHEN HE EXTREMELY JUST FOUND YOU EXTREMELY INTERESTING."

If the guy next to Tsuna was going to overuse the word 'extreme' too much, he'd end up deaf with the volume of his loud voice before noon. His inner thoughts along with his damaged ears, thanks to the volume, were silently praying for a more settled talk. In a much quieter tone if they would add.

"I-It's o-okay… I was just a bit shocked." Tsuna replied with taking down his hands from his ears that had flung up as a reflex for covering his ears after the first three words from the guy's yelling.

"Extremely sorry again though!" Tsuna felt himself relax of the less loud tone the guy had given this time, waving a hand in dismissing the matter.

"I don't think it was by meaning to knock me over or me getting hurt right?"

"Extremely not!" The white-haired exclaimed. "By the way. My name is Ryohei. TO THE EXTREME!" A fist was pumped up in the air in declaration.

"N-nice to meet you Ryohei." Tsuna smiled sheepishly and stood up. "I'm Tsuna."

Ryohei nodded in return, a smile shown on his face as a sign of greeting. "Oh and over here is Kangaryuu, my extreme partner." He moved over to the brown sun flame animal beside him, putting an arm around the creature's neck and grinned as the Kangaroo did a poor imitation of ginning which resulted in just showing its teeth. Tsuna couldn't help but give out a chuckle at the Sun flame animal's antics.

"So Tsuna are you extremely heading?"

"Oh. Uhm…" Tsuna felt his head was all blank from coming up with a good answer to that. He didn't really thought about where to exactly go more than just following the road to the next town. "Well, I am heading to the next town down the main road. I'm a traveler so I don't have a specific place in mind, just enjoying the trip wherever it takes me." He finished with a smile.

"What an EXTREME coincidence!" Tsuna cringed once again at the volume for the 'extreme' in that sentence. "I and Kangaryuu are actually heading to the next town to this road as well! We are going to meet our extreme instructor."

"Your instructor?"

Ryohei nodded. "He saw me training the other day and suggested we'd meet him in the next town. He said something about some extreme training he could help me with along with Kangaryuu to the extreme."

The Sky stared at the loud older teen. Not moving a single centimeter. A small click in his intuition picked up something in that sentence. He couldn't think of anything wrong with it though, but something he said made him feel uneasy.

"Hey. How about we extremely join up and walk together there? It'll be EXTREME."

Okay, uneasy feeling flushed away. A small hint of annoyance had replaced it with all the 'extremes' he had heard today. Yet, he didn't feel like dismissing the offer to have company there. It might turn out good to be two traveling to the next town as the brunet felt awful by if he'd managed to get lost again he'd be in more trouble than in the Village of Swords.

"Sure." Tsuna answered in the politest tone he managed to muster, the older teen look approvingly back, yelling even more extremes afterwards as they continued down the road.

Even if it might turn out annoying, Tsuna was happy about the company.

Besides, he had an actual guide that he could ask things from as for now.

* * *

"So, if I get this right. You two was out there picking Azural berries because you forgot to do it before and conveniently found a rare rain-class flame animal in the stream?"

"That's right." Takeshi grinned sheepishly. Hana felt like smacking him at the back of his head for his idiocy. They had been in this temporary interrogation room for half an hour already and finished explaining as cautiously as they could muster why they had been with a flame animal.

The two Arcobaleno exchanged looks in disbelief which made Hana groan in frustration. Better just tell the full story for safety.

"Well actually we're sure we had already headed to the 'Growing of Azural' earlier today but suddenly we found ourselves standing in the middle of the village and had no memory of going back there. We felt as memories of ours were missing to a point between that and we figured out we had not even picked any for starters. We tried going back to see if we could remember anything there as it was at that place something had happened to us which we think made us forget and by accident that bird just showed up from the stream. I swear we did encounter it the very first time just before you two arrived."

Hana exhaled and took a new breath as her full explanation was fulfilled. The Arcobaleno seemed to have taken their attention to a new level and watched the two teens with serious looks.

"A memory loss you say?" The blue-haired Arcobaleno asked.

Hana nodded. The other teen gave one as well in confirmation. Good. He was understood the necessary reason why she brought up the whole truth. Since it was the Arcobaleno, there had to be a big reason why they were suddenly here.

A moment of silence took form between the four people then the blue-haired gave the blonde man a quick look and nodded. The blonde nodded back and went out of the room. The woman turned her attention back to the teens.

"We believe this is a case we would need you two to follow us to the headquarters with. We'll help you regain the memories as well as we need to confirm if a Sky was sighted here after all or some other reason behind what has been happening here lately, now that we have you two who have witnessed something quite odd indeed."

"Wait. A Sky?" Hana was baffled, a Sky in the Village of Swords? That was insane. They wouldn't be able to get here right? Why would it be here anyways? To flee from their hideouts in what she'd heard something about some mountain ranges that they had found some refuge in after the Sky Hunters first showed up.

"Might be. Might not be. We're unsure about the matter. But one thing we do have confirmed; that you two weren't the only ones affected by memory loss. The Sky Hunter named Dendro Chilum was on his way here but he as well doesn't remember how he ended up a little bit into the forest unconscious with a small concussion. He had his armor mildly damaged and had been as if 'punched' literally into a big tree trunk. He's alright but it gives suspicions about something odd is definitely happening at this Valley."

The two teens just stared at the Arcobaleno, unable to come up with something to say at all. As the silence progressed once again the blonde soldier back in.

"I've given the report to Verde. They'll be expecting us at the Capital City within a few days."

"I suppose there's no meaning staying here then. You two, pack whatever you think you need for this journey now. We'll talk to your families about the urgency of the matter. You are free to take the flame animal with you as well as it will surely become a great ally." The female Arcobaleno's voice was absolute without any discussion allowed and directed last statement towards Takeshi as he dumbly stared back in confusion.

"My name if Lal Mirch, the first Rain Arcobaleno and known to have taken down the Sky of Quinto. The one beside me is Colonnello the second Rain Arcobaleno and was the one who took down the Sky of Terzo." Lal Mirch introduced herself and her companion. "And I can assure you that this mission might not be easy. But it is inevitable for now. If it would happen to be that your memories would or would not include a Sky involved in this, it can be dangerous either way as we don't know the true motive of the attacked or memory eraser."

With that the Arcobaleno exited the room, leaving the two teens completely dumbfounded.

* * *

"You're sure the readings weren't just a fluke then?"

Verde twitched one of his eyebrows in annoyance. "Skull. Which one of us has the title of most genius scientist of us two? Not to mention you being a lackey to every single one of us other Arcobaleno?"

The stuntman winched, his face reddened in embarrassment. "Geez, I was just stating a fact that it did happen before you know. With the readings spiking up and it was a fluke since you said there was some connection messing up the system. How do we know it wasn't one this time?"

"Well your ignorance amuses me so I'll tell you. That time as you said was a fluke. But if you haven't guessed I modified it afterwards to not simply create these flukes again. I'm not dumb to let a bug like that continue being a problem with my machines stupid lackey."

"I'M NOT ANYONE'S LACKEY GREEN MAN!" Skull yelled in frustration.

"Being no one's lackey? What is this I hear Skull?" A murderous aura was laid over the lab. The two arguers switched their attention to the newest person joining them in their conversation. A tall man in a black suit wearing a fedora stepped into the room. A green gun held in his right hand.

Skull cringed back muttering a sad apology which made the scientist snort in amusement. If anyone was threatening enough to put Skull back into a coward it was Reborn.

"So what brings you here Reborn?" Verde asked the hitman. It was unusual for him to ever show himself in his lab at all.

"Lal and Colonnello have given a rather interesting report considering your little discovery in the Village of Swords. It appears someone attacked a mediocre excuse for a Sky Hunter, knocking him unconscious and ended up with a broken lightning armor and he seems to not have any memory of any event like that at all."

The green-haired scientist adjusted his glasses, paying full attention. "Well that's rather odd. If he was attacked by a Sky he'd either be dreadfully wounded or dead by now. Anything else you missed to say?"

"I was about to tell the rest before you interrupted." The hitman said in irritation and lowered his fedora down, shadowing his eyes more than before. "They got nothing out of the village people as they hadn't even seen the Sky Hunter in the first place but they later found two teens in the forest who had supposedly gone back to 'remember' why they hadn't picked berries or something like that. But the real deal was that they as well as the Sky Hunter had their memories erased at a certain amount of time. From what Lal and Colonnello got out from them it felt like the memories was gone from a bit before the spike in your readings came to a show and straight after the readings vanished. Lal had several theories about the matter but none of them can be proven as for now."

Verde leaned forward in thought. Yes this was rather odd. "I can see some different theories for this but yes, as Lal thought we have too little to work with to figure out it fully. There might have been someone attacking the Sky Hunter and the kids might have seen it happened but got caught in their act and got their memories erased about the incident to not awaken suspicion to the village. But it doesn't explain why the Sky Hunter was merely just unconscious by being attacked once.

Another reason could be that something was stolen from him, but as you say his memories are in turmoil and it might be that he even had the memory of the item stolen lost in the process."

"But it could have actually been a Sky attacking as well right." Skull joined the conversation after being forgotten the moment Reborn had started talking. "Maybe not a strong Sky but enough to knock that idiot of a Sky Hunter down. I mean, it is possible right?"

"A 'not strong Sky' would definitely not have such a high spiked reading Skull." Verde sighed. "So I'd either guess it was a strong Sky as the readings were close to what a Romanian number Sky would emit in a smaller battle against a rather experienced Sky Hunter. I'm aware you've experienced that right?"

The stuntman shuddered at the memory. The very first time he'd challenged one of those. The third encounter was the one time he'd succeeded to take the Romanian Number Sky down. How he had survived the first two times were a mystery, even for him.

"But I do have one last theory." Verde continued. "It might have been as I suppose Lal also have thought about that there might have been a Sky Hunter that has been able to get his hands of a Sky weapon and fired it towards the mediocre Sky Hunter. It's odd as well but highly accurate as we know it has happened before that some Sky Hunter attacks other fellow Sky Hunters to create more room for them to gain information about recent sightings of Skies and eliminate them before anyone else takes the offer to do so. But I'm afraid we don't get much more out of this without coming to harsh conclusions which might be completely wrong."

The Cloud and Sun Arcobaleno nodded at the statement. All they could do now was to wait for Lal Mirch and Colonnello to come back with the subjects at hand. Maybe even potential Sky Hunters in Reborn's opinion since Lal did tell him about the rare Rain class Flame animal that had appeared before one of the teens slightly before they found them in the Katana forest.

Which reminded the Sun Arcobaleno, he had his own new student to meet in town as he'd found the older teen quite interesting in his abilities and even having a Flame animal of his own which was his perfect partner. A green chameleon that had replaced the gun in his hand climbed up on his shoulder and eyes him carefully.

"Well II better take my leave. I need to go and meet up with the new student then."

With that he exited the room.

* * *

Tsuna was intensely close to slapping himself for doing the mistake of thinking this guy knew where they were headed. Not even an hour had passed and they were lost. In a field no less.

"Didn't you say this was a shortcut that would take about ten minutes or something?" Tsuna asked the white haired teen.

"I extremely can't remember." Ryohei frowned in trying to think, which didn't look good in Tsuna's eyes to the blankness and fully shown confusion on the face of the boxer. "Maybe it was the other field that we should've crossed."

"Other field!?"

"There are too many fields here to count! But we'll extremely make it there. Without a doubt!"

"You've got to be kidding me." Tsuna alerted his sight to land on the Sun Flame animal which didn't seem as confused as its extreme 'owner' was.

"Kangaryuu?" The Kangaroo looked curiously at the Sky. "Do you know the way from here?"

The creature nodded.

"EXTREME!"

A mental facepalming was what Tsuna had in mind. But at least one of them knew the way now.

This was going to be a long day.


End file.
